J. Jones (left) next to Mike Winkeljohn (right), his coach in Albuquerque (USA). Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
“Better alone than in bad company.” For Mike Winkeljohn, coach of the “Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA” gym, this was the saying that his pupil Jon Jones He should have remembered well before his cocaine use became public, following the release of a surprise doping test carried out at the end of last year. According to Winkeljohn, Jones cannot be characterized as a drug addict, but he likes to party and can be influenced by his company.
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"Not him (Jon Jones) does not have a problem. He likes to enjoy. In my opinion, this is definitely not some kind of addiction or anything like that. I think he sometimes sees himself hanging out with idiots”, commented the coach, in an interview with the podcast “The MMA Hour”. “Honestly, if you had asked me five years ago, I would have thought, 'My God, Jon would have fallen off the cliff, because of the influence of all these idiots hanging around him. I think he would have fallen off that cliff, but Jon has good balance. Apparently, he stood on the edge of the abyss, but didn't fall off, so now he's back on track, he added.
Still talking about the episode, which preceded Jones' triumph over Daniel Cormier at UFC 182, Winkeljohn said he was very disappointed to discover this type of behavior from the champion on the eve of such an important fight, but he also said he did not believe that the fighter had any type of benefit due to taking the drug. “Well, it's a disappointment. There's no doubt about it, I was disappointed that he was partying before a fight. That said, I don't think it helped him in the fight. I think it probably hurt him because it took him away from his focus and he wasn't recovering the way he should have. But, the bottom line is, okay, now it's here, he did it, we're going to fix it, he has to get over it and be better. It's so hard. I’m kind of like an older uncle yelling at him all the time,” he said.
As cocaine is not a substance banned outside of competition, as in the exam carried out in December 2014, Jon Jones he did not receive any type of sanction and only spent one night in a rehabilitation clinic voluntarily. The light heavyweight champion returns to the Octagon on May 23rd, in Las Vegas (USA), against Anthony Johnson, in the main fight of UFC 187.
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